UK House Prices Are Up Due To A Lack Of Supply

No matter what the mood or outlook in the UK property market is, people always want to know what is coming next. This is why a great level of importance is placed on predictions At the tail-end of 2017, as is natural for the end of the year, a lot of predictions were made for the 2018 property market and there was a consistent viewpoint. While individual specialists stated separate opinions, the over-riding impression was that for 2018, UK house prices would fall or at least grow at a slower rate. Many reasons were cited for these gloomy predictions and there was agreement that there would be less optimism in the market this year. This made the first UK house prices of 2018 slightly surprising.

UK house price rise was a surprise for many

In fact, in their report for January 2018 house figures, Nationwide said that their Chief Economist expressed surprise at the rise in house prices. Some of the headline figures from the January 2018 findings were:

The largest increase in property prices in 10 months

The average UK house price standing at £211,756

An increase of 0.6% on December 2017 figures

An increase of 3.2% on year-on-year figures

Whenever there is a surprise in the property market, there is a need to understand what happened. Analysing the UK property market is difficult because there are so many factors impacting on the market. Brexit is clearly an issue that causes many people concern these days and there are various political, economic and financial factors to bear in mind when reviewing what is going to happen next in the property market.

However, one of the biggest issues in the past decade has been a lack of affordable housing, and a lack of housing in general. This has impacted on the market and has been hugely influential in prices rising. Nationwide believe that a fall in the supply of property in January 2018 led to the rise in prices, which will come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with basic economic principles.

Some homeowners may have decided against selling their home

Of course, with so many experts predicting that 2018 would see a fall in house prices, some homeowners may have decided that it wasn’t in their best interest to have their home on the market. January is often a difficult market to predict but given the level of work involved with placing a property on the market, the gloomy predictions may have convinced some sellers not to bother engaging with the market. This may have in turn increased the prices, meaning those that held their nerve and kept their home on the market benefitted from a higher price when selling their home.

At Griffin Residential, we know the difficulties of trying to predict what is coming next in the UK property market. There is a lot to be said for being informed but we also believe that there is a great deal to be said for being able to react to what is taking place. No matter what is happening in the market or whatever you want to achieve, if you are looking for the best level of support and guidance, call on us and we will ensure you receive the support you need.